Electronic transactions, such as credit card transactions, can be conducted using smart cards. A smart card is a card with embedded integrated circuits that include a processor and a memory. Smart cards can provide identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing, as well as serving as credit or ATM debit cards, phone or fuel cards, and high-security access-control cards for granting access to a building or computer. Smart cards can authenticate the identity of a user by employing a public key infrastructure (PKI). This authentication process may be conducted in a variety of ways, including through the use of a pin, password, or biometric authentication, or a combination of methods for added layers of security.
Smart card readers come in many different form factors and operate in many different ways. Some readers require insertion of the entire card into the reader. Others may allow a portion of the card to remain accessible by the user. These differences between smart card readers make it difficult to include additional layers of security, such as biometric authentication, because such features may be physically incompatible with the operation of the smart card reader.
Contactless transactions allow for the completion of transactions using smart cards wirelessly using near field communications (NFC) and RFID technologies. These contactless smart cards are built with compatible antennas inside the card. However, adding contactless capability increases the complexity of the smart card design and manufacture. In addition, such transactions may only be conducted using smart card readers designed for such transactions. Moreover, to provide a smart card with the capability to communicate over different wireless standards, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, would require a more complex and powerful transceiver within the card. This adds to the complexity of the card design through the need to include a greater number of computing components within the form factor of the card, including an on-board power source.